Release the Dragon
by muaaimoi
Summary: Magical Medieval AU. Or in which Sheldon makes a terrible dragon and Penny is even worse at being a damsel in distress. Shenny as always.
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

Sheldon is one of the better warlocks of his order. This does not make him particularly well liked. It probably doesn't help that he tends to shun his fellows for the ancient tomes that line the halls. He's long adjusted to the whispers about him. They way the mock him about his tendency to hoard knowledge. The dragon they call him, the name follows him through the years, unsubtle whispers behind his back.

He knows better than to pay them any mind. It helps that not all of his peers are determined to torment him. There are a few acquaintances that he slowly begins to consider friends. Mostly through his roommate, Leonard. They are more tolerable than the vast majority of his so called brethren. But Sheldon doesn't have to deal with the masses too often.

Especially once he learned to ward his rooms and possessions appropriately. They claim he keeps secret knowledge, knows unspeakable scripture, they do their best to mask their own incompetence. He is ten times the warlock any one of them is, and they have never manage to get pass even one of his most basic enchantments.

He's quick to move up in the ranks. A rising star, in his own words, and a freak of nature to the fellows of his orders. He finds it easier and easier to ignore the scorn the more involved he becomes in the magic. It fascinates him, consumes him. There is scarcely more to his world. It's all he thinks about.

He doesn't realize the danger.

Doesn't see the jealousy in his professors. Misses the growing discontent among those he considers friends. When the offer of studying mystical caves in the mountains as head of the project comes, he is delighted. Doesn't see the trap for what it is. Considers it one of the most amazing opportunities of his life. Right alongside the invitation to learn magic in the first place, despite it making his own mother part of the crowd that attempted to burn him as a witch. Learning magic is still one of the best decisions he's ever made, of course he jumps at the chance to learn more of the arcane. He invites his friends along. Throws himself into translating the ancient runes and gleaning all the magic he can from the ruins.

He does feel the wave of magic coming towards him before it arrive, however. Manages a protection spell between one heartbeat and the next. The magics collide, twist and tear at him from within. Warp everything that he is. The agony of it follows him into darkness. Once he wakes he finds that he is much larger than he should be. Reptilian where he wasn't, with two great midnight blue wings he could only examine out out of the corner of his eyes.

A distressed rumbling leaves his throat. He supposes it's the draconian equivalent of 'Oh dear.'

**2.**

Three days, Penny thinks to herself bitterly.

That was all it took, three days for her world to end. One moment she was just another village girl, and the next she had been chosen, declared the loveliest maiden in all of Omaha. The Corn Queen they called her. It was supposed to be a great honor, for all that every village girl hoped and prayed that they were never chosen to wear the crown, not once the dragon had come. As if a fancy title made her fate any better. As if any fate could be worse.

Angry tears dripped from her face as she thrashed against her bindings. The rope bit into her wrist, but the pain didn't register past the agony of the betrayal. A roar sounded in the distance and she froze, her body going involuntarily still. Penny had never known fear like this. It gripped her chest tight, settled in her spine. It took everything she had just to breathe.

Tethered to a pole in the middle of the village square, abandoned by everyone she had ever known. She was left to die. Just another unwilling offering in a long line of helpless, bound girls. Too young to be called women, but too old not to know just what really happened when the Dragon came to carry her off. She would die so that the cowards in her village might live.

She almost hoped they didn't. She almost hoped that the Dragon found her an unfitting meal and burned the Village to the ground. She almost hoped. But this was Omaha. It had been the only home she had ever known. It was where her family lived, traitorous scum that they were. Somehow leaving her to die hadn't erased the entirety of her love for them. If only they had fought for her. If only they had tried to offer themselves instead, the way she would have, if any of them had been chosen. Maybe then she could have offered herself gladly. Met her fate with her head held high, knowing that she was dying for people that loved her.

They hadn't even given her that.

All her father had done was bow his head. Her mother had at least dressed her in the finest gown she owned. Her sister had combed her hair, woven flowers through it. Her brother hadn't even appeared at her send off feast.

And now all that was left was for her to die alone. Sacrificed to the dragon that haunted their mountain. Penny forced herself to crane her head up. She would die as she had lived, beautiful and brave, even if no one else was around to see it. The thought didn't help her keep a shrill shriek at bay as the dragon swooped down and snatched her up with his claws.

**3.**

It takes him an embarrassingly long time to adjust to being a dragon.

His first attempts at contacting his order for assistance are naive and in vain. He's equally embarrassed by the fact that he doesn't understand the betrayal until he has several knights set on him. It isn't terribly difficult to fight them off using fire, fangs, or claw, but there is distressingly little magic available in his new form. Despite the sheer potency of the magic he can feel in his new scales. He needs only to think of a way to access it.

For a time he considers revenge. Ravaging the castle that once housed him, and reaping vengeance on those who had been jealous of his power. But in the end he finds that he has his priorities straight. He is a dragon. And dealing with the new reality of being a magical creature takes precedence over revenge. Not that he doesn't plan to pursue his vengeance. It is simply that it can wait. Whereas learning to fly cannot.

He needs to figure out how to become human again. He doesn't know how to do magic as a dragon. Can't write his usual missives and magic them to his grandmother, his Meemaw, the clever hedge witch that had saved him from being burned alive. He hates to distress her.

So he flies away.

Far away. To a mountain full of caves that seems perilous to climb. Settles in to figure out his new shape and how to turn himself human again. He's flying in an attempt to find sustenance when he spots a witch burning in the town at the valley of his new mountain. His memories of Meemaw demand he interfere.

**4.**

Flying was terrifying.

At least at first. She had never been so high up before, and she had no way of knowing how long they flew. Her village seemed smaller and smaller as they flew further from the ground. Penny couldn't control the breathless giggle that bubbled up. She was flying. It might be the last thing she ever did, but it was amazing. Her fear ebbed and flowed with every powerful beat of the dragons wings. Gliding along the winds, rocking her carefully in the cage of it's talons. Penny almost felt like she could enjoy the sheer novelty of it. She was up so high.

How many people could say they had seen the land from the sky? Like a bird, or a cloud. She had been part of the heavens from some time. The weightless happiness leaves her as soon as they begin to land.

The Dragons claws tighten and Penny thinks it's the end. That it will rend her limb from limb with it's claws before it feasts on her corpse.

It doesn't.

It dumps her, none too gently, on the ground. There is a cut on her palm from where the claws had nicked her, and the grass burns against it when she goes on her hand and knees, caught between automatically pushing herself up and the knowledge that she's about to die. She goes still, terrified. Will it burn her alive instead? Roast her with it's fire. She stays frozen in fear for what feels like forever before she realizes that it's flown away.

She looks up at the sky, expecting to see it roaming. Perhaps it wants to chase her down the way hunters enjoy hunting down game? She doesn't spot hide nor hair of it and supposes it doesn't.

She doesn't understand.

But she's alive, nothing seems immediately predisposed to kill her, so her day is definitely looking up. She starts looking for shelter. She doesn't know why the Dragon had spared her life, but she doesn't want to be found should it change it's mind.

**5.**

Sheldon has a bit of a breakthrough in his attempt to regain humanity. It's mostly due to the village girls blood on his claws, and he considers them fully even despite having just saved her life. It isn't much, not the careful, steady hands he once wielded, but surely having his voice back is useful? Or he supposes it would be, if he had anyone to talk to.

Loneliness has never been an affliction he'd actively suffered from. There was always an experiment to run, or something new to learn that helped him push the feeling to the back of his mind. He'd also been unable to avoid others completely, having to interact with people in order to get food, or check books out of the library. It always served as a reminder of how much better off he was without others. He'd once dreamed of becoming a hermit. Now that he's been forced to become one by circumstance, he's surprised by how lonely he feels now.

He considers the village girl again. Surely the trek down the mountain would take sometime, perhaps, now that he could speak, he could offer her a ride. He imagined it would be less alarming to be approached by a dragon now that he could make his intentions clear.

He tracks her down by scent and finds her sleeping in the hollow of an old tree. He accidentally crushes the trunk when he attempts to nudge her awake. She shrieks and he realizes that he has failed. She seems very alarmed indeed.

**x**

**I don't even know y'all. I seem to be in a mood to write magical medieval Au's? I didn't know that was thing, but apparently... I've started like three in the past few days. This one is the one with the most finishing potential. Also this is gonna be a three shot, please tell me what you think? I don't have a very concrete idea of where I'm going with this...**


	2. Chapter 2

6.

Penny wakes to a sharp crack and the sight of the Dragon hovering over her. Her heart feels like it stops-just stops. Because there is no way it can contain the fear and horror coursing through her. She'd thought she'd gotten away. Sure she'd worried about wolves, or not being able to find sustenance on the mountain. But the concerns never seemed terribly pressing when she no longer had to face being eaten by the Dragon. To find it hovering over her was worse than before. At least she'd been prepared then. She'd been expecting to die. She hadn't had any hope, she'd been ready to die with her head held high.

Now-Penny closed her eyes and awaits a pain the like of which she hadn't dared to imagine...It doesn't come. She's corpse still, holding her breath, and nothing happens. Her heartbeat sounds like war drums in her ears, and she doesn't know how long it takes for her to realize that she can hear a voice. Let alone how long it takes to realize that the voice is speaking to her.

"...Alright?"

Penny opens her eyes and can't quite comprehend what she sees. Is the Dragon-is the Dragon speaking? To her?

"Have you run afoul of a fellow witch and found yourself cursed?"The Dragon, and Penny was still having trouble believing it because she'd never heard tell of it being so much as a possibility, asked.

"I'm not a witch!"Penny says, mouth running before she could think better of it.

"There is no sense in denying it."The Dragon chides,"I did save you from being burned at the stake."

The silence that follows that particular pronouncement is thick with her disbelief. The Dragon doesn't seem to notice, flicking its tail like a particularly satisfied cat. Now that fear isn't slowing her brain to a crawl she can look at it properly. It's huge, easily four times the length of her former home.

But Penny can't quite wrap her mind around what she's hearing,"Saved me? They sacrificed me to you! Just like they sacrificed every Corn Queen on the Sabbath ever since you flew over our village and decide to live in the mountain!"

"Why ever would they do something as foolish as that?" The Dragons great, frilled head came closer, studying her intensely with slitted eyes bluer than the very skies."I have no interest in sacrifice."

Penny just didn't understand. At least she wasn't dead-yet. And she might just survive the second encounter. If the Dragon was being honest, and truly had no interest in her as a sacrifice.

7.

Sheldon examines the maiden that the villagers had chosen as a sacrifice. She was lovely of course, a beautiful maiden indeed. No doubt as close to a princess as a village girl could get. As had been the other girls that had come before her. Sacrifice, such a silly notion. There was no appeasing a true Dragon if one was unfortunate enough to ignite their rage. He wasn't a true Dragon regardless, merely an enchanted wizard, as he informed the Village maiden.

"And to think, all this time I thought I was being noble, rescuing my fellow magic practitioners. Did the first Village girl they 'sacrifice' never return to clarify my intentions?"

"No."She scowled at him,"No one ever made it back! They probably died, if you just left them in the forest of the mountains. Village girls aren't suited to surviving in mountains! There are wolves, and nearly no food. There isn't even a river anywhere near where you left me!"

"And yet you are faring rather well,"Sheldon mused aloud. He had never considered the fate of the women he had rescued. He had considered his duty to them done by saving them from burning to death. But it seemed he had been the reason they had been tied against a pole in the village square in the first place. He could see the girl's point, the others before her had likely met their end at the hand of the perils of the mountain. When he considered the lack of magic it made the girls survival thus far rather impressive-in fact"Are you quite sure you're not a witch?"

"I'm not a witch!"The girl exclaimed, firm.

"Would you like to be?"Sheldon offered."Magic is far simpler than most are led to believe. Especially if one has the use of opposable thumbs."

The girl gaped at him,"No, why would I want to be a witch? They are hideous and vile-"

"Nonsense,"Sheldon disagreed."Magic is often vilified by those who cannot practice it. You have the gift, why not use it?" There were many spells he couldn't cast due to his condition. Sheldon missed his creature comforts. And the girls magic had to be particularly potent, otherwise her blood wouldn't have worked as well as it did. Dragon tongues were not made to wield human words. And yet Sheldon did not have to suffer any discomfort to communicate.

"I do?"The girl asked, voice soft.

Sheldon nods,"Would you like me to teach you? What is your name?"

"Penny,"The girl says, a whisper at best. But Dragon ears work far better than his human ones ever did. He hears her just fine.

"Well then Penny, I accept you as my apprentice."He had never brought into his fellow magicians belief that women had no true talent for magic. His Meemaw had been quite the adept practitioner. She had taught him more than any number of his professors. He would make sure his apprentice would be fearsome indeed. Ensure she was both strong and wise. So that she may never find herself in his place.

8.

The dragon was beautiful. The thought sneaks in every once in a while, unbidden. When the sun hits the dark scales just right and she can find the blue in them. The Dragon is beautiful, he teaches her magic, makes her stronger, better. The Dragon, the most feared creature she'd ever heard of, is wonderful, harsh task master that he can be on occasion. She never thought life could be like this.

Penny looks at Sheldon, the Wizard cursed to be a Dragon of all things (and what a story that tale had been!), and comes to the realization that she's happy. Genuinely happy. It's a feeling she'd nearly forgotten existed, amid the tedium of tending to the cornfields and awaiting for her mother to find her a suitable match. She hadn't been eager to find a husband.

Her life had been so much more exciting when she had been younger. She'd heard all sorts of faery tales at her grandmothers skirts. Played pretend she was a princess to her heart's content. Eyed the better looking males around the village and wondered at who would one day be her prince. She'd almost run away once. There had been a particularly strapping lad called Kurt who had courted her. Promised her a life full of wonder and happiness. Sneaking away to see him had been the most excitement Penny had ever known. But her father had caught her one time too many, and told her on no uncertain terms what happened when a woman wasn't pure for her wedding day.

It had been the end of that. Kurt had lost interest when she had stopped responding to what she had come to realize was a slow seduction. He'd had no interest in marrying her. No interest in being with her beyond what lay under her skirts. Penny had been heart-broken.

Now, she woke up to magic lessons everyday. Learned new things constantly, saw things she could have never imagined. Flying on a Dragons back especially was a pleasure she had never dreamed she could enjoy.

If she stops to think about it, some part of her had known it wouldn't last. Nothing that made her happy ever did.

9.

Sheldon is surprised by the village girls aptitude.

Penny, he finds, is a surprising person in general. They spend months learning each other. He comes to find her bravery worthy of his respect, and her stupidity worth his scorn. There is often a very fine line separating one from the other. But her stubbornness is often a match for his own, and he doesn't know whether or not he has been fortunate, to find companionship in someone who willingly goes head to head with a Dragon.

But then-Penny is someone who enjoys flying on his back. Takes to the reconnaissance missions he sends her to villages on with a near disturbing enthusiasm. Her prowess with attack spells has him glowing with pride, and it takes no time at all until she becomes someone he would call dangerous. Oh, he would have still crossed her had the situation called when he had been a sorcerer. But he would have thought twice about it, refuse to engage her until he had taken several precautions.

He'd considered setting her on his enemies, knowing retribution would have been brutal and swift. But he would prefer for his vengeance to be more personal, face to face, once he recovers his original one, of course.

The days pass swiftly. He enjoys guiding Penny with his knowledge. Likes the new state of their domicile. It had taken some doing to arrange a hot spring, but they managed. Penny's simple village upbringing had robbed her of many things it seemed. She'd seemed particularly mystified about why Sheldon had worked so hard for his hot spring (which was more of a hot lake really, considering the dimensions they had to broaden it to in order for him to submerge his draconic body.), until she took a dip of course. Then she had doubled her efforts to learn every other spell that would enable them some more creature comforts in their cave.

For a time they fall into a rhythm. It's easier, more comfortable, than anything he'd ever experienced as a mere mortal.

Then he smells smoke.

10.

Sheldon tells her the villagers have gathered with torches and pitch forks. Penny finds herself almost impressed by their daring. Fear of the Dragon had been commonplace in their village. The idea of so many of them being so brave is almost hard to believe.

"Are you going to drive them of?"Penny asks, curious but not terribly worried. Sheldon hadn't lied when he claimed he had no interest in sacrifice. He was not someone interested in slaughter for slaughter sake. All bets where off once he'd been wronged though, as she was sure the wizards who betrayed him would soon find out. Just as soon as they figured out how to turn him back.

"They seem rather determined."Sheldon sighed,"It seems they have brought a knight. I do not understand why people regard them so highly. They have no magic. Merely armor."

"A knight?"Penny asks, delighted. She had never laid eyes on a knight before. She quickly casts a spying spell Sheldon had taught her, and quickly dropped it in surprise. Her father. She had just seen her father, torch in hand. Was he coming to seek vengeance for her life? Penny frowned. She didn't want him to know she was alive. Not when he had been ready to sacrifice her before. He didn't deserve to know that she had survived. That the Dragon had never actively killed any of the women they had sacrificed to him.

"Penny?"Sheldon questioned,"are you alright?"

"Will you fight them? If they attack you, will you fight them?" She may not be happy with her father, but she does love him still. Feels sick at the thought of him hurt, maimed by Sheldon's claws or his flames.

"Of course,"Sheldon affirmed.

"And if I asked you not to?"Penny asked, hopeful. Sheldon had been kind to her all this time. Perhaps he would be kind again.

"As I see it we have two options. Wait here and engage the murderous ob. Or leave our home, the mountain."He did not sound like he wanted to leave.

"We can always find another, can't we? I'm better with the spells we used on the cave than I was before, surely our new home will be better than this one." Penny pointed out.

Sheldon sighed, deeply this time, the funny storm smell of his dragon breath filling the cave."I would like to point out that we are not fleeing. I am merely indulging your desire not to hurt those from your former village."

Penny beamed. She'd been right then. Sheldon had been kind again, but then, he had always been to her, she'd had no reason to doubt him.

They fly away.

x

**Sorry this took longer than I thought. I changed my mind on a plot point while I edited so I had to rework a few things. On a brighter note, that plot point is now being worked into another story, so you know, not a total loss. Hope you guys enjoy this, let me know**


	3. Chapter 3

**11.**

Sheldon heads north. Back through the way he'd come. Closer to the mystical caves where he had been cursed. If being a Dragon had anything at all to recommend it, it would be flight. A months journey could easily be reached in mere hours among the clouds. The moonlight providing just enough light to illuminate the miles of forest beneath them. It was strangely beautiful, and he was glad for Penny's company as she pointed out every particularly aesthetically pleasing sight he might of otherwise dismissed. He was not generally someone who appreciated such things. But spending time with Penny was slowly changing that.

It was as if the constant acknowledgement of her own beauty worked to help along his appreciation for other beautiful sights. He wonders if she will see the magic of the caves as beautiful the way he does. Beautiful for their promise of power instead of the exotic patterns of the runew. The magic and knowledge of them appeal to him in a way the glittering ice does not. Or perhaps he will come to find them even more beautiful than he did before, due to Penny's influence.

Normally, being a dragon and as incapable of magic as he finds his current body, he would never consider going back. Not with the magic being as ancient and treacherous as it is. There was a reason that he had required a four man team upon his initial explorations. Fortunately Penny is enough of a warlock now to defend them both from the enchantments.

Part of him can't help but think that something about the caves magic altered his curse. Nothing he has instructed Penny to do has worked.

He has been treating his state as temporary-but curses should not be so hard to break. Not with Penny's abundance of power and his guidance. He was beginning to lose hope. The enchantment didn't function like anything he was familiar with. The caves were risky, being what they were. But they might also be his only hope.

**12.**

Penny had mentioned the tales of her childhood to Sheldon before. They had discussed the merits of enchanted sleep, and the true extent of the foolishness behind asking for the aide of the fey. They had even covered true loves kiss, which was apparently True Magic in a way no enchantment could deny.

Penny can't quite stop thinking about it. About kissing Sheldon, the Dragon. It is an exceedingly strange thought. She has always known him to be a Dragon. She has no idea what he would look like as a man. He could be disgusting, exceedingly spotty or warty, and she might never know. Except that she looks at Sheldon's draconic body. The shine of his scales, the intelligence and focus behind his jewel toned gaze, and can't quite believe that his human body won't be just as compelling. Just as attractive.

It is so strange to consider a Dragon, a creature she'd once held in both awe and fear, as attractive the same way she'd once considered Kurt attractive. Only, it's nothing at all like her attraction to Kurt. She'd never spoken with Kurt for hours, never gazed at the sky in his company. Never wanted to spend time with him that wasn't spent kissing, or flirting.

She has no idea how she could possibly flirt with Sheldon. She had asked him if he had ever been in love, and he'd told her his only love in life had been magic. She'd gathered that he'd never had many friends. The only family he spoke of was his adoptive grandmother he's called Meemaw. He had her pen letters to the older witch, assuring her that he was fine and in relatively good spirits. Asking after her garden, and her health. Penny could never quite hold back her smile as she wrote those letters, no matter how he fussed about their state.

She always felt so fond of him when he did such clearly human things. Fondness and an emotion that was worryingly similar to hope. Hope that there was a normal man under those scales, hope that he might feel the same way about her someday. It was silly.

But she knew that he felt the caves might be his last chance to regain his humanity. So while he might not welcome the idea, he would try it. If only to check the possibility off the list. So Penny set up the protective spells around them and gathered every scrap of her courage.

"Sheldon? You've tried everything you could think of to break the curse, right?" She asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Of course." Sheldon replied, with a regal nod of his head.

"I have an idea I'd like to try." It was stupid, so stupid. But it was now or never. If she didn't try, if Sheldon found some other way to shed his scales, she would always wonder. At least this way she'd know for sure.

"Very well." Sheldon said, carefully lowering his head so that it was level with her own. "What is it?"

Penny took a deep breath, and unable to force the words past her lips, decided to take a chance. He was close enough. All she had to do was step forward and press her lips to his scales.

So she did.

Felt a breeze on her face that carried the faint hint of magic. Opened her eyes to see that it had been true loves kiss.

**13.**

Sheldon does not expect Penny to kiss him. He has no frame of reference for concepts like romance or a couples love. It doesn't keep his heart from skipping a beat, or the enchantment that had held him prisoner in a Dragon's body to fall away.

True Magic unraveling it. The True magic that was true love.

True love because Sheldon loved Penny the way she apparently loved him. It wouldn't have worked otherwise. True loves kiss only happened when both parties felt the same. He hadn't realized. He'd had no way of knowing why he enjoyed her smile and her laughter the way he did. What it meant that he went out of his way to make her happy. Or the consideration he displayed towards her that it had never even occurred to him to offer anyone else.

So the first thing Sheldon did now that he was once again a man was not cast a spell, revelling in the magic he'd sorely missed. Or begin planning his vengeance, as he had once assumed. The first thing he did was lean back in and offer Penny a proper kiss. Feeling joy bloom in his heart and spread to the very tip of his very limbs. He didn't even register his nudity.

He would have gladly kissed Penny with everything he had until their lips went numb. But he never had the chance as a spell struck him in the back.

When he wakes he is in agony. He can barely think past the pain. He has been covered in rags and the spells they use to bind him burn and bite into his flesh. He recognizes the chamber once he gets a good look at the chains. He's never been in the holding cells before. But hearsay was quite explicit and rife. It had even reached him, after all. The holding cells were where they held Warlocks who had gone dark.

"We knew you'd be back." A voice says from behind him. It's the Head of the Warlocks Brotherhood. Gablehauser, of course it was Gablehauser. He'd never been much of a Warlock himself, he'd always gotten others to do his spellwork. Sheldon opened his mouth, a scathing diatribe on the tip of his tongue when magic clamped painfully around his throat. Keeping him silent. "Any warlock who can divine any magic from those walls is dark. It's a test, you see, Warlocks find dark magic irresistible. We give it to the professors before they are approved for the positions. Such a shame. You had so much potential, you would have been our youngest professor. Not that any of us were surprised, of course. You only cared for power. We all knew it was only a matter of time."

Sheldon had almost forgotten how much Gablehauser liked to hear himself talk. Of course the petty practicians of the brotherhood would consider magic they were incapable of understanding dark. They had no appreciation for knowledge, or innovation. Most lived happily under the delusion that women couldn't be any good at magic. They were fools.

He tried to examine the enchantments on the chains, but every attempt to reach his own magic resulted in a vicious stab of pain in his sternum. It was hard to work through the pain. he had never had much tolerance for it. Especially once he'd discovered magic that would keep it far away.

"Now your little girlfriend, that was surprising." Gablehauser continued, immediately capturing the whole of his attention. What had they done with Penny? "You never seemed to care about women before. But I suppose a beauty like that would tempt anyone. Did you enchant her to please you? Of course you did. It's not like any woman would be with you willingly."

Sheldon knew in that moment that he would enjoy killing Gablehauser. He would have reveled in it if only for the sake of revenge for the orders betrayal beforehand. But now it was personal in a way it wouldn't have been before Penny. Couldn't have been, because he had not had a true love for the man to insult at the time.

Gablehauser tisked, "Very dark magic, Sheldon. But then, what else could one expect from someone who summoned a Dragon of all things."

They thought he had summoned himself? Sheldon snorted silently, the magic keeping the sound from escaping. So they hadn't even managed the curse he'd spent years laboring under. It had been something the caves had done. He felt stupid for believing such pathetic Warlocks capable of such strong magic.

"So Sheldon," Gablehauser steepled his fingers, "You were never particularly malicious. Just power obsessed. I think we could broker a deal. Perhaps a more comfortable cell? Better food? All you have to do is tell us how to summon a Dragon. What do you say?"

Sheldon glared furiously at the man before him and considered the merits of spitting on his face.

That's when a warlock burst through the door,"Professor! There is a woman, we think she's fae. She's killing people."

"Gather the others!" Gablehauser ordered. "Every man into the the pentacle at the mouth of the dungeons."

And that, that couldn't be borne. Sheldon knew down to his bones that the woman was Penny. That the order would gather in order to work up the power to hurt her. Kill her. Sheldon wouldn't allow it as long as there was still breath in his lungs. So he ignored his bodies anguish and dug deep inside himself. Dug for the power that would save Penny.

He brushed against his old scales. The Dragons fire.

**14.**

Penny woke in a white room. Her panic was instant. She was surrounded by men she didn't know. The last thing she remembered was Sheldon. Kissing him and breaking the Dragon curse. He was handsome as a human. Just as she knew he'd been. Dark haired and blue eyed. He'd looked at her like she was the most amazing thing in the world.

"Sheldon!" she said, searching the room for him desperately, "Where is Sheldon?"

They had been kissing. She remembered that. The softness of his lips, the warmth of his arms around her. He'd taught her powerful spells that hadn't felt half as magical as pulling him flush against her.

"I don't think the spell is broken." A man with a foreign accent commented as Penny rose to her feet.

"It must be really advanced dark magic!" A short bespectacled man exclaimed. " I can't find any enchantments on her at all."

"Maybe it's because she's so enchanting all on her own." Another short man said, eyeing her with clear interest.

And then she remembered. They had been caught by surprise. Unprepared for the other Warlocks presence in the caves. They hadn't even known they had been in danger. There had been her protection spells in place of course. But she had layered them on the cave walls. None of her magic had shielded their vulnerable flesh. She hadn't thought to.

Her anger is sudden and all consuming. She refuses to be helpless, to let these second rate warlocks who hadn't had the gall to face them in direct combat get the best of her. Of them, because Penny had every intention of holding on to her true love now that she'd found him. Penny reached for the magic inside her and turned a tendrel into lightning. She sent it into the heart of the one who wore glasses.

She didn't let the sight of his corpse phase her. Every Warlock in the order was dead. They just didn't know it yet. But first things first. She turned to the others.

"Where is Sheldon?" Penny demanded.

The answer was quickly forthcoming after that. Penny friend them regardless. She'd been taught better than to leave a hostile enemy at her back. She struck down every Warlock that crossed her sight. Heading down, towards the dungeon. The holding cells where they were keeping Sheldon.

She only paused when the stones beneath her feet trembled. Then she heard a roar. It was familiar. She'd heard it before. The blue flames consuming the occasional Warlock she came across was the final clue.

A Dragon.

Her Dragon. Sheldon. Had it all been a spell. A way to keep her happily unconscious. Had the magic only taken a brief respite before flaring again? Sheldon couldn't be a Dragon again. She'd broken the spell. She knew she had. Her kiss had worked. It had!

Penny looked at the dragon that had once been her constant companion. Her friend, her teacher, the man trapped inside of scales that she had fallen in love with. The man whose curse she'd broken through the strength of her love alone.

Or so she'd thought.

It clearly hadn't been enough, because Sheldon was a Dragon once again. She's know those scales anywhere. He sent a blast of fire just behind her, and she heard the dying shriek of more warlocks. Sheldon gracefully lowered his neck, the way he always did when she wanted a ride in the sky.

She climbed aloft automatically, almost in disbelief.

She barely noticed as Sheldon destroyed the castle in it's entirety, all fury and Dragon fire. Not even the terrible dying cries of the Warlocks breached her veil of sorrow.

Perhaps it hadn't been true love. Perhaps Sheldon didn't love her back after all. Perhaps nothing. The proof was before her very eyes. Sheldon gave a victorious roar and launched into the sky.

**15.**

"Free at last," Sheldon announced with satisfaction. The wind beneath his wings, Penny straddling his neck, and the burning ruins of his former home disappearing into the distance at his back. Penny said nothing, the silence stretching oddly, as though she were unhappy.

"Are you wounded?" Sheldon demanded, unable to think of anything else that could possibly taint such a complete victory. "Did a spell hit you?"

"I'm fine." Penny said shortly, in the tone of voice that he'd learned to be a clear indication that she was anything but.

Sheldon beat his wings faster, his draconic vision spotting a clearing that would hold his current bulk a reasonable distance away from the flames. He would coax whatever problem Penny was experiencing out of her there, and then they would celebrate. He'd come to find kissing was very a very enjoyable affair.

"I'm sorry!" Penny burst out as he landed. Sheldon cocked his head in a clear question gesture.

"I'm sorry." Penny repeated, clinging to his back. Hiding her face in his scales. She trembled against him, breath hitching strangely. He could only hope she wasn't crying. He had no idea what he could do in the face of her tears.

"What's wrong?" Sheldon asked helplessly, he didn't understand what Penny could possibly be sorry for.

"It wasn't enough." She whispered. If his ears hadn't been that of a Dragon's, he wouldn't have heard. "I'm sorry it wasn't enough. That I didn't love you enough. That my feelings for you couldn't break the curse all the way. That it wasn't true loves kiss after all."

Sheldon huffed, snorting fire out of his nose in amusement even as the deep well of affection he felt for the woman on his back spread warmth throughout his limbs. Love was a very curious feeling. He was still surprised he could now recognize it for what it was.

"Don't be silly Penny." He said, pulling the part of himself that was a dragon back into his soul and under his skin. It left him standing nude, the rags he'd been shrouded in by the warlocks having been torn to shreds upon his transformation. Penny's weight on his back more notable now without his large draconic mass.

"What!" Penny cried startled at his change, perhaps also at the swiftness of it.

He turned around, pulling her into his chest, holding her close so that she could see and feel his humanity for herself. He looked into her wide green eyes and touched his forehead to hers.

"You love me more than enough. Better than that, actually. You love me exactly for who and what I am." He assured her. The very thought of doubting her love was preposterous. She'd given him true loves kiss. The power to shift back into his mortal form without surrendering the power and freedom of being a dragon.

"Oh." Penny said, voice very small. Then she surged forward and kissed him. Pure passion in every brush of her lips.

It was the perfect kiss. Each one would always be. Such was the power of true loves kiss. And the love between two Warlocks of their magnitude would always be magical indeed.

**x**

**So this chapter was a beast to write, and I dearly hope it was worth the wait. **

**Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to review, favorite and follow this. Thank you for your interest, it really helped me write my way into actually finishing this. I really hope you enjoyed it.**

**If you guys like Dragons you might wanna check out my story Fairy Tale, which is the story that the plot point from chapter two ended up as. I also wrote another mideval fantasy called Of Knights and Fey. If this story was relevant to your interest. **

**If the strength of the shenny love seems too sudden, then I did not do as good a job as I thought on the whole 'explaining that they both understand the strength of true love and that they are it for each other' thing. And I apologize. If it seemed legit then thank fuck because writing that was tricky as hell.**

**Please for all that's sweet and holy let me know what you guys think.**


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